Strong + Unfiltered: Perimenopause, Hormones, Gut Health + Metabolic Optimization

Dr. Melany Bates has walked many paths of healing, and each one has deepened her understanding of the body's innate intelligence. Chiropractic gives her the opportunity to weave together ancient wisdom and modern science — offering guidance, education, and powerful hands-on care to those seeking a more vital, connected life.

Her approach blends:

• Deep listening and intuitive care

• Gentle, nervous-system-based chiropractic

• Coherent bodywork and breath awareness

• Emotional, physical, and structural integration

She works with the neuromusculoskeletal system in a way that honors the whole person — mental, emotional, physical, and energetic. The awareness that chiropractic brings to humankind (and animals alike) is, to her, nothing short of sacred.

Outside the office, you'll find Dr. Melany immersed in the practices that fuel her own vitality: Meditation, movement, the art of yoga, hiking in nature, and nourishing her entire being — mind, body, and soul.

In this episode we chat about:

• All about my pelvic floor journey
• Someone put in too much elastin when I was gestating
• Jello vs. crackers ???
• Your stress load DOES dictate your structured programming— listen up
• Why you need to live in REALITY
• Signals your body is over stressed
• "I dont feel stress" is a major red flag
• Have you made "FINE" be "FINE"?
• Our favorite nervous system regulation tool
• Taking care of yourself as a skillset
• Emotional load/stress load of movement
• Signs/signals of what is too much demand

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about working with Melany

Follow Melany on IG

Christa Biegler is an award-winning dietitian nutritionist, host of the Less Stressed Life podcast, and author of The Eczema Relief Diet & Cookbook. She helps health-savvy women overcome eczema, food sensitivities and fatigue without unnecessary restriction, endless testing and supplements. She has a passion for subclinical thyroid issues, the nervous system & stealth biotoxins. She lives with her unicycling husband & kids in the Midwest.

In this episode we talk about:

• Name pronunciation
• Biz related shit and failing fast
• Unnecessary food restriction
• Major patterns eczema
• The stress skin connection
• Unrealized stress of high performers
• Inflammatory buckets

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about working with Christa

Follow Christa on IG

Dr. Julia is the founder of Oris Wellness, a consulting company dedicated to empowering parents with the knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions about their child's oral and airway health. Through one-on-one sessions, she provides objective guidance on treatment options and helps families connect with qualified airway-focused providers. Her mission is to bridge the gap between professional expertise and parental intuition. Originally trained in Biological and Airway Dentistry while practicing in Chicago, she now calls Portugal home.

In this episode, we chat about:

• Dyslexia Brain
• Love for the collab
• If you work with kids you NEED this
• ADHD and bedwetting caused by breathing issues?
• Sh*t your pediatrician probably doesn't know
• What you can do at home for kiddos (and you)
• Why your kid shouldn't suck their dumb (or use a pacifier)
• Clenching and grinding isn't from stress=
• Issues in adulthood from a sh*tty airway

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Julias resources

Mute dilator sample pack

Follow Julia on IG

Jess is back on the podcast! Jess Wallace is an adventure host, travel lover, online business manager, teacher turned entrepreneur and promoter of living a big, authentic + full life. Jess specializes in helping female entrepreneurs thrive in their businesses. She also hosts adventure trips to create a space for women to connect, see the world together, make lifelong friends, and unlock core memories. Her mission is to help as many women as possible get outside, adventure more, bet on themselves, take up space, do it scared, build confidence, live big + chase magic.

In this episode we chat about:

• Are you ready for it (not Taylors version)
• Lets talk about vaginas
• How my pelvic exam sent me over the edge
• Not blindly trusting the robots
• Stop over identifying with your diseases
• Should is a dirty word
• Why are we signing the alphabet
• Kindle funerals
• BRENDA!!!!!

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about traveling with Jess

Follow Jess on IG

Carli Davis is a functional sports dietitian who helps active women fuel smarter, prevent burnout (aka REDs), and support hormone health—without fad diets or pseudoscience. A lifelong runner and former collegiate athlete, she's especially passionate about working with endurance athletes, but enjoys helping anyone who values their health and wants to feel their best.

Carli began her career in clinical nutrition in 2017, specializing in nutrition support in the ICU and for those undergoing bone marrow transplants. In 2021, she transitioned to preventive health and launched her own private practice in 2024 after relocating to Austin. Her approach is deeply integrative and personalized—combining functional lab testing with root-cause exploration to go beyond the "everything looks normal" response when the body is clearly asking for more.

She's on a mission to help women avoid the pitfalls of underfueling and return to a thriving state—where performance, hormone balance, and day-to-day energy align. Carli also values collaboration and often partners with other providers, such as physicians and therapists, to ensure her clients receive well-rounded support.

You can connect with Carli or book a free discovery call at https://www.carlirunnutrition.com/ , or check out her popular Meal Planning Guide at https://carli-run-nutrition.kit.com/products/meal-planning-made-easy.

In this episode we chat about:

• Toxicity of running to lose weight
• Dieting is crushing your performance goals
• What is RED-s and why you should know about it
• Why you need to strive to be fertile (even if you don't want a baby)
• Why carbs are so important
• Your toxic job is literally killing you
• Its okay to not train for a race
• Moving your body shouldn't be your ONLY coping mechanism
• Why intermittent fasting is trashing your performance

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Carli on IG

Jess is back on the podcast! Jess Wallace is an adventure host, travel lover, online business manager, teacher turned entrepreneur and promoter of living a big, authentic + full life. Jess specializes in helping female entrepreneurs thrive in their businesses. She also hosts adventure trips to create a space for women to connect, see the world together, make lifelong friends, and unlock core memories. Her mission is to help as many women as possible get outside, adventure more, bet on themselves, take up space, do it scared, build confidence, live big + chase magic.

Tune in to this episode as we chat about:

• Yeeting ourselves off mountains
• Does Denali actually exist?
• It's a big parrot
• My abs hurt from laughing (find out why)
• CANANADA
• Next level drenched
• Grizzlies, elk and baby sloths
• Peggy and abracadabra glacier
• "TEAM" is a dirty word
• Why would I go to Ireland I wont see anything

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about traveling with Jess

Follow Jess on IG

Kaitlyn Franken is a Board Certified Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Nutrition Specialist with a Master's in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine and a Bachelor's in Health Education and Behavior. What truly sets her apart is her personal experience. She understands how frustrating it is to feel like something is wrong in your body and not have the answers.

Kaitlyn was able to navigate and solve her own health issues after seeing doctor after doctor and was repeatedly dismissed being told that everything looked "normal." That's when she discovered functional lab testing and finally found the answers she had been seeking. She was dealing with undiagnosed SIBO, hypothyroidism, gallbladder dysfunction, hyperandrogenism, mold toxicity, and more. With the right data, she was able to piece together a plan and, slowly but surely, reclaim her health and her life.

Today, Kaitlyn uses that same data-driven and compassionate approach to support her clients. Whether they're navigating gut issues, hormone imbalances, mood or behavior concerns in their children, or simply trying to feel like themselves again, Kaitlyn is committed to helping uncover the root causes and build a clear, personalized path toward healing.

In this episode we chat about:

• Mercury still be in the microwave
• Kids and functional medicine
• Wild results in kids with autism
• H pylori and autism??!! What!
• Behavioral issues are AIRWAY issues
• Get your kids an airway assessment ASAP
• Kids and screen time.
• Chaos in dysregulation in parents goes to your kids
• Kids and cellphones
• Kids and sugar intake— don't shoot the messengers
• 1 in 3 adolescents now have prediabetes
• Toxin load and what its doing to your kids
• Your kid is more stressed than you think
• The boomers really did have it easier than millennials

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about working with Kaitlyn

Follow Kaitlyn on IG

Laura Grubb is a functional health practitioner who helps women heal their gut, balance their hormones, and finally get to the root of stubborn symptoms like bloating, fatigue, acne, and irregular periods.

After working as a nurse practitioner, Laura turned to functional medicine to make a bigger impact and truly help others achieve health.

Laura specializes in helping women who have been dismissed, told "everything is normal", or prefer to heal holistically from a root cause. In Laura's practice, she utilizes functional lab tests to identify imbalances and create custom plans for her clients to heal as well as lifestyle modifications.

In this episode we chat about:

• Get mercury out of the microwave
• The sprinkle dinkle before GTFO bitch slaps
• Things we can't unsee
• The healthy amount of alcohol: ZERO
• The dial in of perimenopause (we didn't make the rules)
• More sprinkle dinkles that got us out of conventional medicine
• How inauthentic environments are bad for your health
• Why you need to go for a walk and touch grass.

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about working with Laura

Follow Laura on IG

Lindsay Farmer, RD is a Registered Dietitian who specializes in maternal wellness from preconception through postpartum. With a passion for helping women nourish their bodies, she offers a holistic, evidence-based approach that goes beyond the basics.

As a mom herself, Lindsay understands firsthand the physical, emotional, and spiritual demands that come with each stage of the fertility and motherhood journey. Whether you're trying to conceive, navigating pregnancy, or rebuilding in postpartum, her mission is to support you with practical nutrition guidance, hormone-friendly strategies, and encouragement that respects your values and your body's wisdom.

Lindsay works with women through personalized 1:1 support and self-paced courses that meet them exactly where they are, offering flexibility, clarity, and expert guidance in every season of motherhood.

She believes deeply in the power of aligned living—whole foods, low-tox habits, and a "fertility-focused" lifestyle that supports your health long before and long after baby. Her care is rooted in compassion and curiosity, and she's here to remind women that their wellness is worthy of time, intention, and joy.

In this episode we chat about:

• Why you should be obsessed with preparing your body for pregnancy
• How IUDs + b birth control totally cut women off from their body's
• Depletion postpartum
• Return to exercise postpartum
• Women and autoimmune disease
• Eating breakfast is kind of magic
• Andrew Huberman sagas

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about working with Lindsay

Follow Linday on IG

Emily Perrin is a former DI athlete where she played soccer at UVA. She is also a former DI soccer coach where she coached at UPenn. Emily has her master in Clinical Social Work and is a social worker/licensed mental health therapist who specializes in trauma. She is also the Founder/CEO of Perrin Wellness Performance and the Co Founder/Co CEO of The Unbroken Athlete : https://www.theunbrokenathlete.com and is the director of Medical Advisory Council, Morgans Message : https://www.morgansmessage.org

In this episode we chat about:

• Mental performance coaching
• What helped her the most as an athlete
• How we build resiliency
• Maladaptive vs protective behaviors
• The dysregulated + depleted epidemic
• You can't shame people into success
• What shame and fear do to the nervous system
• Some people need to sit down
• The system isn't set up to support women's nervous systems
• It's not discipline its a disorder
• The process of unlearning
• The number one factor in receiving from trauma

Learn more about working with me

Shop my masterclasses (learn more in 60-90 minutes than years of dr appointments)

Follow me on IG

Follow Empowered Mind + Body on IG

Learn more about working with Emily

Check out her 90 Day Nervous System Resiliency Program